With new coach, Western Michigan started over with recruiting class

7:13 PM, February 6, 2013

By Tom Lang

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

It is fairly normal for high school football recruits to at least question, if not completely change their mind on which college team to sign with after a head coaching change. For South Lyon East quarterback Cam Thomas, he got even more excited about Western Michigan.

“I was into Western before that, but when (coach) P.J. Fleck came in, he definitely put the icing on the cake for me,” Thomas said. “Coach Fleck, when I first met him, had a ton of enthusiasm and a ton of intensity and I just love that in a coach. So I definitely think this was the best fit for me.”

In 10 high school games this season, Thomas had 1,923 yards passing (3,616 career), 248 attempts (627), 151 complete (316), 14 TDs (26) plus one rushing TD.
In December, Fleck replaced Bill Cubit, who was at the helm for eight years, after a 4-8 finish last season.

This year is Fleck’s first as a head coach. He took the helm after one year as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He previously coached at Rutgers, his alma mater Northern Illinois, and Ohio State. He was on the roster of the San Francisco 49ers as a receiver in 2004-05, but mostly as a practice squad player.

In Thomas’ case, signing his letter of intent to join the Broncos could be categorized a matter of survival. Understanding the uncertainty of strength in verbal commitments, Fleck took a look at the list when he entered the scene in mid-December and eventually, today’s announced lineup of 17 players in the 2013 class as “maybe two or three guys who were previously committed."

“We had the philosophy as a new staff that basically, we are starting over,” Fleck continued. “For the kids that committed, we evaluated everyone. We put everyone back in a blender. And we spun that blender up and poured out the shake of what we wanted.

“There were some of the kids that we kept (Thomas, Austin Lewis and Jackson Day), and there were some others that didn’t necessarily fit what we were doing, whether that was schematically, athletically, academically, whatever it was, there were some that didn’t fit. We were honest and up front with pretty much all of them, and you take one day at a time and go out to recruit the players you want in your program.”

Fleck and his new staff looked at numbers of players who they had in specific positions and as a result, only took one cornerback (Logan Oce, Opa Locka, Fla.) as the program already had plenty.

“But like the defensive line, we have some low numbers, and we wanted to upgrade in that area,” Fleck said. “So we recruited some really different D-lineman that fit our scheme better, along with some of the other players we have on this roster.”

Western signed three down lineman – David Curle of Utica Eisenhower, Kristof Ifkovits of Chicago and Jamara Simpkins of Miami, Fla. – plus two defensive ends – Khairi Bailey of Chicago and Andre Turner of Harper Woods Chandler Park Academy.

“Whatever the necessity of the program is to be successful is what I get paid to do,” Fleck said about potentially selecting starters from the newest class. “And the best players will show up against Michigan State on August 31st in East Lansing.”

Breaking it down

BIGGEST CATCH: "In your first recruiting class everyone is special. I won't pick out two or three guys because these guys are all 'us,' and I think that's really special about what we've created."

SLEEPER: "I think a player no one knew a lot about is Kristof (Ifkovits), the big 6-foot-4, 306-pound D-lineman. He's just a big kid with great feet; plays with passion, plays well, plays hard, plays physical."

COULD PLAY IN 2013: "I'm a very simple guy. The best players will play, and if we have to play 17 freshmen I will play 17 freshmen. If I don't have to play any of them and redshirt them, I will."